Veronica Nightshade
Veronica Nightshade is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born Veruca Knight, she adopted her Veronica Nightshade stage name when she began her career as a club singer. Her URAPS career began in early 2010, when she participated in the 11th season of URAPS Idol. She impressed the judges with her big voice and her left-of-field song choices, and won over the public during her time on Idol. She was eliminated in 6th place. Following her loss on Idol, Veronica worked on a solo EP based around her version of "Army Of Clones" by Ben Johnston, in support of the IDOL: Encore compilation album. Popular demand led to further material being recorded, and the preparation of Veronica's debut album "30 Days Of Night", which was released on the 27th of September, alongside the stand-alone single of "Army Of Clones". The single entered the charts at #5, and the album entered the charts at #3. Personal History Veruca Knight was born on June 17th, 1986. Growing up, she developed an interest in music and singing, pursuing vocal training from the age of ten. Veruca found her musical interests shifting towards the electronic, and began immersing herself in club beats. She spent much of her teenage years scoping out nightclubs around Melbourne and listening to all the music. Taking a university course in technical production, she met up with an amateur producer and they began cutting demo tracks together, which virally spread through the underground club scene, gaining Veruca a small following. During this time, she was also going out to clubs and performing gigs, singing her demo tracks. This got her noticed by a Sony BMG representative who approached her about participating in an all-girl tour showcasing four up-and-coming singers. Veruca agreed to the tour, and performed alongside Cat DeAluge, Amali Willems and Paulina Kookookachoo on an Australia-wide tour. The four girls formed a group called D.I.V.A.S and recorded a single together in order to promote the tour. The single was a runaway success, with popular demand for a full-length album. Veruca agreed to record the album, believing that it would be a one-time deal and was prepared to move back to her solo career once the album had run its course. Veruca's announcement to leave the group was met with severe negative reactions from the other girls who accused Veruca of selling out and not being a team player. Veruca was replaced in the group, but they never saw the same level of success. With her time in D.I.V.A.S behind her, Veruca went back to her club roots, re-vamping her sound and adopting the Veronica Nightshade stage name she is now known by. Veronica travelled across the world checking out the club scene in various countries. It was during a trip to America that she met DJ Sylar Monaghan, and they began working on tracks together. Veronica was to be included on Sylar's 3rd single "You Can't Hide" by his dance music project Schizophonic, but the single was scrapped despite Veronica already recording her vocals for it. A year later, Veronica auditioned for URAPS Idol with '3 Words' by Cheryl Cole, not wanting to type-cast herself as a big-voiced diva. The judges were impressed with the audition, and she made it through into the top 10. Her tenure on the show was relatively short-lived, she was eliminated in 6th place after performing on the show for five weeks. Music ''30 Days Of Night'' Era Following her elimination on URAPS Idol, Veronica went straight to work on new solo material. She recorded a studio version of 'Army Of Clones' which she performed on Ben Johnston week of Idol. This version was in line with the electro-rock original version as recorded by Ben, and was included on the IDOL: Encore album which featured studio versions of each of the top 10's best performances. Veronica intended to release her cover of 'Army Of Clones' as a single to support the album, packaging the single as an EP with her solo material. Public reception of the single was extremely positive to the point where Veronica ditched plans for her EP, and instead recorded extra material to turn the EP into a full-flegded album. She kept 'Army Of Clones' as the lead single for the album. The song was remixed by American DJ Chris Cox for its single release. Veronica enlisted a number of A-list producers and remixers to handle the production of her album, including names from both the US and the UK, as well as from Australia. The finished album includes collaborations with Ben Johnston and Elice Claire, as well as Australian singer Ricki-Lee. Ben features on the album version of 'Army Of Clones' while Elice features on a re-written and re-recorded version of her breakthrough #1 hit 'Keepin' U Up'. The album and the single were both scheduled to hit stores on September 27th, 2010. The album was released simultaneously in both the UK and in Australia on this date. Upon release, 'Army Of Clones' underperformed next to initial expectations, but by the end of its first week it still pulled a respectable top 5 debut. The album debuted at #3 in both the UK and in Australia. The first Australian single is 'Not Broken' produced by Jason Nevins; it is believed that 'Army Of Clones' would not be as well received by the Australian public as a lead single, so a different single was chosen instead. 'Not Broken' will be given a UK release as the second single, presumably some time in late November. Personal Life Veronica is close friends with many of her Idol alumni, including season winner Genevere Johnson, pop singer Lily Clarke and jazz singer Riley Brendan. Veronica is also best friends with Midnight, as well as collaborators Ben Johnston and Elice Claire. Veronica's enemies include her former D.I.V.A.S bandmates, but of these, her biggest enemy is Cat DeAluge. Veronica is engaged to be married; her fiance's name is Jonathan Hargreaves. The couple went to the same high school although they were in different year levels, with Jonathan being two years her senior. The couple met at a nightclub and their relationship developed from there, with Jonathan proposing to Veronica prior to her time on IDOL. Veronica dedicated a song from her album to her fiance, having written it about her time on the show and being away from him while he was at home in Australia on the other side of the world. Discography Albums 2010: "30 Days Of Night", released September 27th, 2010 (#3) Singles 2010: "Army Of Clones", released September 27th (#5) 2010: "Not Broken", released Late November (TBA) Category:Urapopstar Category:1986 births Category:Female artists